Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1887-07-28
M o R .cRANk..
ktymology Of . collouulai Exprsssion .
Venerable Standing.


ktymology OF . C~olloQuial Exprssslon q
Venerable standing.
The word crank, denoting . within.
steal person. is not slang but m Amer
lean colloquialism that came into sud.
den prominence In 1881, when the
New York Herald saw fit to account
for the murderer Of President Garfield
by calling him "a crank" This ap-
plication Of the word. however, was
not new. Mrs. Stoves 'Dred." vol.
l.. page 1877 published in 1866. makes
one of her characters say: IF you
strong eloctioners didn't think you
were among the elect you wouldn't be
SO crank [set] about it" Here tho
word means opinionative. narrow.
capricious. uncompromising, or ah-
surd. Carlyle gives three synonyms
in the phrase 'dim of vision, violent
Of temper. subject to sudden cranks
motions or conceits1." Milton uses
the word pleasantly in the ALLEGRO"
about 1886:
Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee
Jest and youthful jollity,
Quips and cranks Sudden conceits] and wanton
wiles,
Mods and becks md wreathed smiles.
In his Divorce of 1644 he uses the
word less pleasantly, remarking that
the ways of the Lord are not full Of
cranks Sudden and rotary motions]
and contradictions The foundation
| of all these meanings is the crank in
mechanics. being a combination of a
shaft to be turned by a web fastened to
it in q boss and turned by a pin or wrist
(see I. II. Knights Mechanical Die
tionary," vol. !, pages 645-5). Persons
| who have turned the crank of q deep
well, and let 90 too soon, will UNDER
stand the meaning Of o%bstinacy. A
crank is used in children's shows. and
accounts also for the expression
"a crank ship"-that is, o ship
liable to roll over as il turned
by a crank. Longfollow uses this ex-
preston in his Building Of the Ship"
20, where he speaks of "the Great
Harry, crank and TALL" which his ship
builder is not going to copy. The EN-
cyclop@dic Dictionary is c%uriously
mistaken in giving the word in this
passage the sen Of mighty and strong.
The idea of whimsicality is suggested
by the novel sights produced in petty
shows by the mere turning of q crank.
In Shakespeare the idea of winding or
zigzag motions only is associated with
the crank: 1.-THE cranks and offices OF
man" (Coriol. i. 1, 141); 1.-THE hare]
''cranks and crosses with q thousand
doubles" Venus and Adonis. 682);
and 'see how this river comes me
Ganking in" Il Henry ~. iii, l, 9S).
All applications of tho word seem to
emanate from the Anglo-Saxon verb
cringan or crincan, which means
to turn or wind, and was
used also Of persons dying in
battle because they writhe. A
crank wit is O nimble wit or q wit
that turns round quickly. Spenser,
speaking Of ga cooke on his dunghill
Growing crank" meant growing with
a brisk turning Of tho head. The die
tionaries without an exception are I'M
satisfactory on this rather simple word,
which recurs in cringe Ito turn a lit
tle) and crinkle Ito twist slightly.
But all difficulties a by beginning
with the original Saxon mcaning--to
turn or to wind. If there arc appli-
cations or combinations of the word
not thus explained, which are theyp
Judge Fl. w. Blodgett of Chi cago
has recently ruled, in Walker VS..
Tribune company, in the United
States Circuit Court, that ito call o
person "a crank is not in itself action
able" The learned judge adds that
cranks ais not q word which, by its
common meaning in the English Ian
guage, imports that q person has been
guilty ola crime : : The word has no
necessary defamatorY meaning" The
plaintiff, q lawyer, urged that by call
ing him q crank the Chicago Tribune
had placed him in tho same category
as the assassin Of President Garfield.
Judge Blodgett rejected this argument
by quoting the definition Of tho term as
given in the Imperial Dictionary. This
decision is justified by the history of
the word as just presented and by its
origin. Guiteau was called o crank in
the n that he was a fool of one idea,
which upset his Judgment and prevent
ed him from acting rs should persons
whose minds are not twisted" who
do not act whimsically. and whose
movements arc not like those Of the
crank in a children's show. boston
Beacon.